Tulloch vacation rental regulation remains uncertain

SAN ANDREAS - Lake Tulloch waterfront vacation rental homes are still being advertised online, and many are booked for the coming summer even though not a single property owner has yet obtained a permit required since last summer.

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By Dana M. Nichols

recordnet.com

By Dana M. Nichols

Posted Mar. 13, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Dana M. Nichols

Posted Mar. 13, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

SAN ANDREAS - Lake Tulloch waterfront vacation rental homes are still being advertised online, and many are booked for the coming summer even though not a single property owner has yet obtained a permit required since last summer.

Darcy Goulart, a Calaveras County Planning Department staffer, confirmed that no one has yet obtained the required permit. That may change soon, however, after the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to set a lower fee for the permit.

Goulart said owners were waiting on the sidelines while county officials mulled how much to charge for the permit. Last April, supervisors approved regulations aimed at reining in the raucous waterfront parties and crowding in rentals that have for years been an irritant to neighbors on the lake. But supervisors balked at charging $2,033 for the vacation rental permit, which was initially the cost.

Since then, county staff revised procedures for the Tulloch vacation rental permit to eliminate costly staff work such as inspecting homes to see how many people they could safely accommodate. That brought the permit cost down to $429. Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve that new fee, which goes into effect in 60 days.

Even though the vote for the fee was unanimous, the vacation rental issue remains divisive. Supervisor Merita Callaway reminded board members that she opposes such regulation and that she voted against the permit requirement last year.

"I think the cost of enforcement is going to be significant," Callaway said. "I think people are going to start going underground."

At the moment, the business is very public, with a number of Tulloch waterfront homes advertised online at prices of $500 a night or more. The Tulloch vacation rental requirement does not affect vacation rentals elsewhere in the county.

Callaway noted that in her district, generally the vacation resort towns of Murphys and Arnold on upper Highway 4, vacation rentals are a significant source of county revenue thanks to the transient occupancy taxes they generate.

Callaway said she supported setting the fee in order to ensure that the county is reimbursed for its costs even though she didn't want to require the procedure in the first place.

Goulart said that property owners who want to come into compliance now have the option to apply and voluntarily pay the new lower fee.

Jack Cox, a member of the Lake Tulloch Alliance and one of the homeowners who advocated to regulate vacation rentals on the lake, said he's hopeful the permit rule will limit the large gatherings that result when vacation rentals pack five or more people into each bedroom.

"We don't want to close them down," Cox said, adding he feels it is reasonable if a five-bedroom house has 10 or 12 guests.

Several neighbors on Lake Tulloch have reported unpermitted vacation rentals to the county and at least one of those is being investigated by the code compliance department, Goulart said.

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/calaverasblog and on Twitter @DanaReports.